Microfishing

With the arrival of my son last December, my fishing has been severely curtailed this year. I've manged only one proper fishing trip (to Saline Creek, Miller Co., MO), but I've scrounged the time for several quick trips to nearby creeks.

Since most of the nearby streams don't harbor many large fish, it's either fish for the little guys or don't go fishing. Targeting the little guys also ties into birding...the desire to catch as many species of fish on hook-and-line as possible. To date, I've managed to catch 35 species of fish on hook-and-line (34 freshwater, 1 saltwater), with 4 of those coming within the past month.

An early June trip to Gans Creek, Boone Co., Rock Bridge State Park yielded a Common Shiner and Creek Chub. There were several Blackstripe Topminnows that were interested in the bait (worm on size 22 hooks), but wouldn't bite.

Common Shiner

Creek Chub

On 08 June, my friend Nick and I ventured down to Saline Creek, Miller Co., Saline Valley CA for a few hours. We wanted to microfish and seine. I only managed one species on hook-and-line (Bleeding Shiner), but the seining was fantastic!

Lifer #32: Bleeding Shiner! These guys started hitting the hook (worm on size 22 hook) almost instantly. I think I ended up catching 8-10 of these guys before I gave up. Later, I took the hook out of the water several times when I saw them headed for it. 

One of the prettier Orangethroat Darters we seined.

A pair of Rainbow Darters we seined. They both came home to one of my aquariums.

Another seined Rainbow Darter.

This Northern Studfish was a surprise in the seine net. We tried to catch them on a hook for 15 minutes, but they weren't interested.

Seined Fantail Darter.

Seined Slender Madtom. I was thrilled to seine my first madtoms on this trip. We found ~20-30 of these guys.

We seined this Green Frog (?) tadpole.

Typical seine haul.

A seined Central/Largescale Stoneroller. We were out of time when we seined this fish, so it wasn't properly identified.

Grindstone Creek, Boone Co. runs behind our home, so I try to sneak down there now and then. It was completely dry for most of 2012 (thanks to the drought), so most of the fish there this year are pretty small. Still, it yielded a lifer Bluntnose Minnow and a few other species!

A 47mm Largemouth Bass on a tanago hook tipped with power worm.

Lifer #33: Bluntnose Minnow!

Green Sunfish

Lastly, on 25 June I took 20 minutes to fish Hinkson Creek, Boone Co., MO at Hinkson Woods CA. I lucked into two species, including a lifer!

Longeared Sunfish

Lifer #34: Red Shiner!

Gasconade River, Osage County

The Gasconade River in Osage County, Missouri stood in marked contrast to the Big Piney River. It was wider, deeper, faster, and generally poorer for fishing.

Looking downstream from Pointers Creek Access pre-sunrise.

 While the Big Piney had many deep holes with steep rocky banks, the Gasconade was full of featureless plains under the surface, which made fishing challenging at worst, and difficult at best. Still, Kyle and I managed to combine for ~30 fish through the day.

I had no problem catching small Largemouth Bass on the Gasconade River. This monster measured in at just over 9".

We floated from Rollins Ferry Access to Pointers Creek Access, which was roughly 8 miles. We heard from a fellow kayaker that the distance can be covered in a little over 2 hours when the water is up, but the water was way down last Saturday. In fact, it was only flowing at ~1300 cf/s instead of the average of just over 3000 cf/s! The slow speed of the river, coupled with our desire to fish more than paddle, made for a pleasant 6 hour journey.

The Gasconade River just as I like it: empty.

When we launched the kayak at 6:15am there was only one other group in the parking lot, and they headed upstream after launching their jetboat. We wouldn't see another group for ~6 miles, and in the end we only saw two other boats total. We were surprised to see a handful of empty trailers at Pointers Creek around 12:30pm and over a dozen upon our return to Rollins Ferry at 1pm! I was thrilled to generally have the river to ourselves for the entirety of the trip.

The day started out cool and cloudy, but it didn't take long for the sun and heat to overtake the river.

I had trouble right from the start. After having a perfect trip on the Big Piney, I quickly lost two lures and a lot of line to the Gasconade. I believe I ended up losing five lures due to my own miscasts.

At the time of this photo, this was my personal best Longear Sunfish (6 1/8").

Still, we eventually found some fish with the lures. I was king of the Largemouth Bass, while Kyle seemed to exclusively hook Smallmouth Bass. I also managed to bring in some good-sized Bluegill (8 1/8") and Longear Sunfish (my personal best, 6 3/8"). Kyle also brought in a Goldeye! Forgot to get a photo of that one, though. He also managed to lose a very large Largemouth Bass that was likely over 2 lbs.

It's always fun to catch big Bluegill. This 8 1/8" fish was photographed underwater just before bringing him into the kayak.

The trip was relatively uneventful until we pulled up next to a half-dollar sized map turtle. Kyle lunged at it with his hand, and the next thing I knew we were both bobbing in the water with an overturned kayak! Kyle ended up losing his rod and reel, while I lost a box containing my favorite lures, my folding net and my fishing journal. We also both lost our cell phones to water damage. The worst part was that we were only 1000 ft. from Pointers Creek Access!

Big Piney River, Texas County

On 27 April 2012 Matt and I took my inflatable kayak to the upper Big Piney River in Texas County, Missouri. We decided to float ~14.5 miles from Baptist Camp Access to Mineral Spring Access. The water level was extremely low in places (only inches deep), and we spent a lot of time portaging the kayak until we passed Dog's Bluff Access. All that portaging made our trip take 12 hours instead of the planned 8-9 hours!

I was really impressed that my kayak (an inflatable Advanced Elements Dragonfly 2) handled the stream with aplomb. This was her first trip off of flat water. She seems to have survived without a scratch (literally) despite running a few small rapids and being extensively scraped along the bottom riffle after riffle.

The best fishing was between Baptist Camp Access to Tony Hogan Bridge, but we were able to catch fish just about everywhere we stopped and tried.

I spent the entire day using a small (~3") brown Zoom! crayfish on a 1/8 oz jig and managed to bring in 25 fish. Most of the fish were Smallmouth Bass, but I also caught a few Rock Bass, Green Sunfish and a Largemouth bass. There were lots of Longear Sunfish nipping at my crayfish, but they weren't large enough to get hooked. The Rock Bass were all around 8", while most of the Smallmouth were 9"-11" in length.

This 8 1/8" Rock Bass took the crayfish imitation while it was laying motionless on the bottom.

The day started out perfectly. About 65F and partly cloudy, but as the day wore on the wind picked up, the sky darkened and a torrential downpour was unleashed. After a few nearby lightning strikes Matt and I made it to the Rt. Z bridge and hit for about 40 minutes. While there we were surprised to hook several little Smallmouth Bass. Once the rain stopped and we moved on, I managed to bring in a pair of ~14" Smallmouth Bass that weighed about 1.3 lbs.

One of many Smallmouth Bass in the upper Big Piney River.

The largest fish of the day was a ~15" 1.4 lb. Largemouth Bass (the only one of the day for either of us)!

We watched this fish disappear as our kayak drifted near a few minutes before I hooked her. The hit was so subtle I thought I was snagged on a submerged log.

Matt tried to use the same lure set up as me, but had almost no success. The only thing different between our setups was that I was using 8 lb. fluorocarbon line and he was using 15 lb. braid. I'm of the opinion that using a clear line is very important on the Ozark streams.

Next up....the lower Gasconade River!

Three Creeks CA, Boone County

Despite the cold (35°F) weather, I opted to visit the Bonne Femme Creek at Three Creeks CA (Boone County) this morning. I know of a few deep (>6 ft.) holes that aren't too far apart, so I headed out in hopes of catching my first winter fish.

After a short walk down the trail you're greeted by a view from the top of the cliff. I enjoy the vista because it looks like there is no sign of human activity for as far as you can see.



A little more walking brings you down to the creek. The Bonne Femme eventually drains into the Missouri River, but it has many miles to go from this point. Just upstream from the point in the photo the Bonne Femme connects to Turkey Creek and Bass Creek.

 

I took my 4 weight fly rod this morning, and I started out with a bright orange wet fly that I tied last winter. I made a few casts into the first deep hole and noticed it was bouncing around underwater. Fish!

I watched the fly on a few more casts and decided I needed something a little smaller, so I switched to a size 12 nymph. The first cast brought in my first winter fish ever! A 5" Creek Chub.



Another few casts resulted in a similar sized fish, and a third Creek Chub (5 15/16") was eventually caught.



Despite about a mile of creek walking, the only fish I even saw were Creek Chubs and Orange-throated Darters. Still, it was nice to get out again for the first time in ~4 months and catch a few fish.

Next weekend, weather permitting, I hope to take the kayak to Little Dixie Lake CA with my new wetsuit and fish finder!

Henry Sever Lake, Knox County and Salt River, Shelby County

I was off to Henry Sever Lake in Knox County this morning in pursuit of my first Muskie.

The wind started out fairly calm, around 5 mph, but after an hour and a half it started gusted upwards of 28 mph! Gusts that strong were definitely not in the 6am forecast when I left the house!

I hightailed it off the lake without drawing a nibble nor seeing a single fish. I ran into a couple other guys in motor-powered boats and felt better after hearing they had both been skunked as well.

Since I had to drive right past an access point to the North Fork of the Salt River on the way home I opted to take a break from driving and see what I could catch.

The river looked great. It was full of deep holes and had a few riffles emptying into pools...but there were no fish. I made cast after cast and came up with nothing. I switched lures and still came up with nothing. 

Well, not nothing. I caught something like this on almost every cast:

Eventually, I saw a small fish make a dash for my Rooster Tail right as I pulled it out of the water. Thinking it might hit it if I spun it a little slower, I repeated my cast. Boom! The only fish of the day, a 6 3/8" White Bass.

South Farm R-1 Lake, Boone County

I visited South Farm R-1 Lake (Boone Co.) twice this week (12 and 15 October 2011). It's only an eight minute drive from the house, so I'm a little surprised I hadn't fished there since May!

Actually, I'm not terribly surprised. It's a small pond, the water level dropped about three feet (the pond is used to water some corn fields for the University of Missouri) and the shallows are choked with vegetation from late May until winter.

Here's a look north, away from the better fishing areas along the "dam."

In the two hours I was there (one hour each day) I ended up getting distracted by birds, so I didn't really fish all that much. I was happy to pull out a total of four Largemouth Bass, including this "monster" 11 1/4" fish (by far the largest fish I've ever seen get pulled out of this pond).

Little Dixie Lake CA, Callaway County

This afternoon I was back at Little Dixie Lake with the kayak! The weather was still warm (~80°F) and sunny, but today featured a 15 mph SSE wind. A wind from that direction means that the kayak can be blown the length of the lake, south-to-north, without paddling. It makes it very easy to get to the fishing spots, but it sure made it tough to get back to the car!

Ordinarily, a stiff wind would make it impossible to hold in a fishing area, but today I bought a 12 lb. river anchor and 50 ft. rope! It took a few tries to figure out how to best attach the anchor to the kayak (hint: it's not a good idea to wrap the rope around your ankle), but once I worked it out I was able to sit stationary in a steady series of waves. The only problem with the anchor is that it got stuck in the mud a few times, and when it was ~25 ft. deep it was very difficult to retrieve. I may look into replacing it with an 8 lb. mushroom anchor next Spring.

Since I was able to fish anywhere I wanted (thanks, anchor!) I was able to park the kayak just off one of the main jetties and pull out an 11 7/8" Largemouth Bass!

The water level at Little Dixie Lake is still about three feet low. In the picture below you can see where the water level usually is...right up to the top of the rocks. I can't wait for the lake to refill over the winter!